no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." But from the mouth of this very Apostle, I can draw an implied confession, that there is no such principle as is laid down in his doctrinal, practical, experimental creed, that must work, and cannot but work; or why does St. John warn "the well-beloved Caius, whom he loved in the truth, of whom he rejoiced greatly from the testimony which the brethren had given of the truth that was in him, and of his walking in the truth;" why does St. John think it necessary to warn even him in these striking words: "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good?"

Finally, I would ask, does the Saviour of the world, to whom every spring and movement in the human heart are known, does he encourage the presumptuous idea that even the elect are so far favoured by their Creator as to obtain from him, through a divine communication, that their salvation is safe and settled, a principle that must work, that cannot but work, when he has taught all, without any exception, in their daily prayers to their Father in Heaven, to implore not to be led into temptation; when he commands

them to watch and pray, that they themselves enter not into temptation? warning them, that though the spirit indeed is willing, the flesh is weak; and when, after repeating again and again this caution, as necessary as it is humiliating to the spiritual pride of those who think themselves righteous, and despise others, he adds, with peculiar solemnity and emphasis, "What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch?"

It seems, then, that in this new system of what is called "true scriptural, evangelical religion, while all others are mere imitations or assumptions of that title;" in this Christian's "doctrinal, practical, experimental creed,” all the three propositions or articles of which the creed consists are, to say the least, of very questionable autho rity, and to be received under very important limitations; that they are an exaggeration, if not a mis-statement, of the truth as laid down in the Scripture, according to any fair and candid interpretation of the spirit and meaning of the words of the Apostles, and of the Son of God himself, as recorded in the Gospel.

There is scarcely, indeed, any one who has attained a very high eminence in the religious

world, that can be implicitly followed in his interpretation of Scripture, much less in his application of his own favourite doctrines to the business and bosoms of men. The very cir cumstance of his having attained this eminence is of itself sufficient to excite, in an attentive observer of human nature, a more than ordinary circumspection and caution. What crowd of

followers or admirers do we ever see in the train of moderation, propriety, and good sense? There must be something exaggerated or paradoxical, something assuming the air of novelty by being carried to an extreme, or it will have no attractions for the multitude. What they can measure by their own standard, and have already become familiar with, men soon cease to value or respect. Their imagination must be filled by something which leaves ordinary competition behind, something which can keep up a ceaseless excitement, in the vain wish and effort to attain what is unattainable. But men of judgment and experience are not carried away by every wind of popular doctrine, by every system, however specious, that may be proposed for the moral and spiritual improve

ment of mankind. What man of sound sense, free from the prejudices of education, and unconnected with party, could adopt, in their full extent, the religious speculations and doctrines of a Calvin, a Barclay, a Pascal, a Whitfield, a Wesley, a Wilberforce? The very zeal and devotion with which a religious enthusiast surrenders his body, and soul, and spirit to the great cause he has adopted, are not very favour able to the accuracy and nice distinctions of the judgment. The very ardour of our feelings is apt to carry us beyond the line of propriety; and, even on that very subject, on which the slightest deviation from soberness and truth may affect the peace of mind and happiness of thou sands, the popular minister, in order to retain the influence he has acquired, can scarcely avoid overstating and exaggerating whatever is calcu lated to strike with peculiar force the imaginations of the multitude. Nor is it very favour able to the settled religious principles of a country, that those, who are by nature formed to lead and command, feel it incumbent upon them, from their acknowledged superiority, to form some system of their own. In the form

ation of these systems, the temptation naturally is to give undue prominence and importance to some favourite doctrines; nay, we cannot but observe that such persons (no allusion is intended here to Legh Richmond), are apt, sometimes, even to strain, if not pervert, the texts, which have been collected from different parts of Scripture, and which are connected together in a very arbitrary manner, so that the lights, which, issuing singly from each, might have served only to show its inadequacy to produce the effect proposed, when their rays are concentrated in one common focus, dazzle and overpower the eye of reason. It must be acknowledged, indeed, that to be the author of a new system, the founder of a new sect, to dictate to the consciences, and mould to their own views of divine truth, the characters, not only of the present, but of distant generations, is the grandest object which can fill the imagination, and for which temporal sacrifices are mere dust in the balance. We doubt not the sincerity, or the pure and exalted motives of such eminent men; but, if earthly ambition might be supposed im